An energetic Ukrainian dance in duple time, traditionally performed by men.
‘In a popular folk dance called the hopak, male dancers compete against each other, performing acrobatic leaps.’
‘The hopak was first danced by the Cossack of the Zaporhizian Sich in the sixteenth century and spread to the rest of Ukraine.’
‘It was exciting, and always got the crowd going, with much clapping, expostulation and dancing of the gopak.’
‘Traditional dances - kozachok, hopak, metelytsia, kolomyika, hutsulka, and arkan - differ by rhythmic figures, choreography, region, and sometimes by gender, but share a duple meter.’
Origin
1920s via Russian, from Ukrainian hopak.
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